Are You Ready?
by Aokidanza
Summary: Everyone sings and dances alone in their bedrooms, right...? Well, Mikado does.


Mikado Ryuugamine dragged into his apartment Thursday after school, just as he usually did five days out of every week. Following a silent routine, he unceremoniously flung his bag off his shoulder and against his desk, plopping down on his swivel chair with a heavy sigh. This week's assignment was particularly tiring - Some sort of world history research... Something about Europe... Whatever. It didn't really matter anyway.

He leaned forward on his desk and proceeded to dump the contents of his bag, searching for his history folder. It was due tomorrow, but he had already gotten all the research done, just needed to put it into a report and he was fin- Wait. What? Where the heck was his research?

He stared at his empty history folder with wide eyes, barely even registering the lack of papers inside. When it finally dawned on him that yes, his ten pages of research were in fact missing, he wasted no time in slamming his head down onto the hard wooden surface below, and then groaning half out of the distress for his lost work and half out of the pain that was now rushing through his forehead.

_10 pages..._

Well... Damn. It must've slipped out while he was gathering his things at school. That was... Unfortunate, to say the least.

Trying to shrug off the loss of all his hard work, not to mention the prospect of having to do it _all over again, _Mikado picked his head up while attempting to rub off the pain in his head with his palm. Neither action worked, however, and he was left with a second wave of headache forming at the thought of redoing his project.

_It was done, I had it done..._

This was certainly not good.

To get his mind off the missing papers before his health and sanity suffered any more damage, Mikado sorted through his other files and soon plucked out another homework assignment that needed to be done. Thankfully, this one was much shorter and easier to complete, though as he began to work through it he found that it was _too_ easy, and not enough to gain his mind's full attention. So, unfortunately, his thoughts drifted back to his empty folder even amidst doing his other paper. This caused the clicking of his pen against the desk to stop and his head to fall onto the surface once more, though a bit softer than before as to not further damage his brain.

_It took me hours..._

Forget it; this was useless. He figured that his tech work was just too easy to fully stimulate him, so he rooted around for yet another assignment. Which, of course, there was; Raira took a liking to swamping their students with work. So, just as he found another paper and began to write, he returned to his much-too-hard-headdesking when his mind once again insisted on stressing itself out over that damned report. He couldn't even begin to focus on those math problems.

_Why me?_

Something else. He needed something else to calm his dangerously climbing stress levels. Something nice and relaxing, something other than schoolwork... He tilted his head to glance at his computer, blinking a few times as an idea formed in his head. He reached out his arm to gently poke at the power button, lifting his head fully as the machine roared to life. Quickly, he popped open the internet browser and logged into the chatroom. However, after a few minutes and a few calls to see if anyone would answer, he decided that no one would be logging in at the moment and closed the window. That marked failure number three... Four? Three? Good God, he'd lost count.

_Well... I should probably try to get some work done..._ With that thought in mind, he turned back to his math homework with a forlorn look. Those equations weren't going to solve themselves... But, he might as well try to lessen his stress a little while working.

He turned back to his computer and clicked open his music library. Maybe listening to music while he wrote would work... Music was calming, right? Right. This would totally work.

Mikado pressed play and was immediately greeted with the wondrous sound of music flowing through his apartment. It was a peppy tune, and automatically Mikado felt the corner of his lips tug upwards as a bit of weight shifted off his shoulders. This was one of his favorite songs.

He returned to his work with lifted spirits, completely convinced that he had finally found a way to relieve his stress. As the voice began for the song, shouting out a hyper-sounding _"Are you ready?",_ Mikado couldn't help but mumble a _"Yeah!"_ along with the chorus.

_Hey hey hey hey hey~ (Hey hey hey hey hey~)  
Hey hey hey hey hey~ (Hey hey hey hey hey~)  
Hey! (Hey!)  
Hey! (Hey!)  
Hey! (Hey!) Hey! (Hey!) Wahoooooo~!_

Somewhere amongst the "_Hey_"s Mikado had begun to tap his foot along with the music, though unconsciously, and as the first verse came up he even started humming along. While focusing intently on his work, of course.

_Aitsu mo koitsu mo__  
__Ano seki wo tada hitotsu__  
__Neratte irun da yo__  
__Kono kurasu de ichiban no__  
__Bijin no tonari wo_

"_A-Ah_," Mikado had began to mumble while he worked out a quadratic equation. "_Minna raibaru sa, A-Ah, Inochigake da yo_," At this point, he had even got enough into it as to shout the _"Wow!"_ a bit too loud for his liking, and when he realized it he jumped and returned to a mumble for the "_Yeah yeah yeah_" whilst looking around sheepishly, waiting for his neighbors to burst through the walls with an all-too-embarrassing declaration that they had heard him. They would be laughing, too. Can't forget the mocking laughter... The thought alone was shameful enough to get him to shut up for the next verse.

_Unmei no megamisama yo__  
__Kono boku ni hohoende__  
__Ichido dake demo_

However, as the song went on, he found himself starting to amp up his singing volume again.

"_Benkyou suru ki mo shinai ki mo__  
__Kono toki ni kakatte irun da yo__  
__Moshi dame nara kono boku wa__  
__Mou gurechimau yo__"_

Mikado also sung the "_Hey_"s this time around, even shouting the long _"Ahhhhhh~"_ at the end of it, then laughing a bit at himself as the instruments took over. Though the thought of his neighbors hearing him had begun to slip his mind, and he had completely forgot about... Whatever it was that he had overreacted to earlier. The work in front of him was beginning to lose its prominence as well. When the next verse came around, he leaned back in his chair as he belted out the lyrics shamelessly.

"_Nimaime kidori no shuusai ya__  
__Ano iya na akutou banchou mo__  
__Mune hazumase matte iru__  
__Dono seki ni naru ka"_

"_A-Ah~_" he sang as he twirled around in his chair gleefully. "_Ano yokogao wo~ A-Ah~ Mitsumeraretara~_" Suddenly he hopped out of his chair with a loud _"Wahoo!" _and even twirled as he sang _"Yeah yeah yeah~"_, completely oblivious to the fact that in his normal state of mind, that action would have forced him to label himself as "Officially Insane".

But now, as he caught a glimpse of a pair of shiny green rims on his bedside table, all he knew was that he was having a helluva lot of fun.

* * *

Masaomi Kida dutifully made his way to his best friend's apartment, though sighing when he glanced down at the papers clutched in his left hand. Really, it was just like forgetful Mikado to leave all of his history work at his desk; he was lucky to have a friend like Masaomi, who hated the droning voice of their history teacher _just enough_ to glance around the room and notice that his friend was leaving all his papers behind. And, like the awesome friend he was, he would waste no time in delivering these papers back to Mikado - Right after he talked to those two cute chicks that just passed.

Two girls, two steps, and two seconds to get - You guessed it - Two rejections, and Masaomi was back on his fateful path. A few more angered shouts, disgusted sneers, and quick getaways later, the blonde had finally managed to reach his destination. But before he began to ascend the staircase to Mikado's door, he heard a strange noise emitting from within the building. Something that sounded awfully similar to... Singing.

Yes. Someone was singing within the building, a catchy, upbeat tune. And it was coming from Mikado's apartment.

* * *

"_Jugyouchuu tengoku da yo__  
__Kono boku ni shiawase wo__  
__Ataete okure... Woo~!"_

If Mikado had lost his bearings before, then this must be his descent into full, whole hearted, unadulterated madness. He was currently bouncing around his apartment - Or perhaps it was "dancing" - while singing into the pen he had previously been using for a long forgotten... Whatever it was, as if it were a microphone. To make things infinitely times better, he had grabbed the green '80's glasses he was so fond of - Though he'd never admit it - and paraded around in them as if they were the best accessory ever to grace the Earth. All he needed was a hippie getup. Really.

But he was obviously completely content with his current situation, twirling around without a single care in the world as he sang his little heart out. And certainly, there was nothing wrong with having a good time, right?

"_Benkyou suru ki mo shinai ki mo__  
__Kono toki ni kakatte irun da yo__"_

In fact, he was having such a good time, that he didn't even notice the creak of the door opening, nor the increasingly amused eyes that had been watching him for the past few seconds. And God forbid if he heard the giggles that threatened to escape the unknown audience's lips.

"_Moshi dame nara kono boku wa__  
__Mou gurechimau yo"_

As the song neared its end and having sung the final verse, Mikado swung around with a big grin - Coincidentally towards his front door - and shouted an elated _"Thank you!"_ as if he were singing to a raging crowd. However, as soon as he realized who stood at the entrance to his home, his large smile and equally bright eyes dropped along with his pen, and he didn't even get a chance to shout the final _"Hey!"._

The song ended and Masaomi busted out into laughter, clapping his hands with much amusement to match his nearly crying face. Mikado stood stone still in the middle of his room, gaping at his friend, a mixture of awkward confusion and pure horror shining upon his once joyful face. The funky glasses perched upon his nose just added to the deep, burning embarrassment that rose within the boy, and as soon as he noticed the green tint to the world around him, he hastily snatched off the accessory, tinting his own face with an even more vibrant shade of red.

"Ma-Ma-Masaomi-i... Wh-What are you doing h-here?" the flustered boy managed to stutter, looking like he could've broke down and died right then and there, and almost wishing it too. At least it might fix all this mess...

The blonde tried to hold down his fit of giggles as he waved a stack of papers in the air with one hand, using the other to prop him up on his knee as he fought to keep his balance. Golden eyes full of mirth glanced up to lock with blue, but even the horrified look on Mikado's face wouldn't stop his echoing laughter. It just seemed to make it harder for Masaomi to hold in.

He gave a huge sigh to regain his breath as he stood upright, tossing the papers towards their flustered owner. Luckily they all remained in one stack as Mikado caught them, glancing over the material to find that they were the missing pages of his beloved history report. His eyes immediately widened.

"Ah~ You don't have to thank me~" Masaomi offered, still overflowing with amusement from what he'd just witnessed. "This encounter alone has been thanks enough~!"

Upon hearing those words, Mikado felt a little, tiny part of him die inside. He could see its frail body shriveled up in the corner of his mind. The grin Masaomi was still wearing made him want to join the poor thing.

His inner turmoil must have been showing through his face, for Masaomi's grin suddenly dropped and was replaced with a more gentle smile. He strode past the smaller, nearly shivering boy and towards the bright light emitting from the computer screen, observing it with a tilt of his head before grasping for the mouse. Mikado, who had stopped his short emo-moment as his friend brushed past him, watched on with a slight hint of curiosity at whatever Masaomi was doing. He had no idea what to expect from the blonde until he heard music fill the room once more.

Oh _God_, no. It was the _same song_. Mikado knew he would die at that moment. Though, something about Masaomi's newly placed grin made him stop his suicidal thoughts, and he lost all train of thought when the blonde picked up Mikado's discarded pen and held it up to his lips.

Then, just as the voice on the computer began to speak, Masaomi gave a slight wink towards his beyond baffled friend and shouted: _"Are you ready?"_

Mikado's eyes became as wide as saucers, but it was only for a split second as a grin nearly identical to the blonde's swept across his face. Without hesitation, he answered the question in time with the song:

"_Yeah!"_


End file.
